“It is by growing this political strength that we will be able to exercise greater influence, and shape the political agenda in both states on this island,” he went on.

Calling on those present to “organise and mobilise”, he said now was not the time to “sit on our hands” even though the recent assembly election brought about “seismic changes”.

But he added that if Irish unity was achieved he did not want to see an Ireland, where the south swallowed up the north, or vice versa.

Citing worries such as Brexit, inequality, women’s rights, religious rights, the right to be free from sectarianism and poverty and the rights of victims of the conflict, he said: “None of these rights threaten anyone.”